30,000 contacted their MPs to demand the UK suspend all arms transfers to Israel now
Thank you to the tens of thousands of you who contacted their MPs demanding that the UK government call for a suspension of all arms transfers to Israel. The sheer volume of your response has been incredible.
On Sunday 19th January 2025, a phased ceasefire deal began in Gaza. It was through the efforts of you and the public taking to the streets that we have gotten to this point.
What’s been happening?
Phase one of the ceasefire deal has begun and is going to last six weeks. It is supposed to involve the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
Displaced Palestinians in Gaza have started returning to their home towns, only to find their homes and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, especially in northern Gaza.
The delivery of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza must be rapidly ensured - along with the entry of human rights investigators and international journalists.
What next?
While the first phase has begun, we are still seeing violence and military aggression in parts Jenin and the West Bank.
Far more action is needed including: an enduring ceasefire, the release of all civilian hostages in Gaza and of all Palestinians arbitrarily detained by the Israeli authorities.
In December 2024, Amnesty International published a report that found sufficient basis to conclude that Israeli authorities committed and continue to commit prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention.
Even if there is a ceasefire, stopping the killings and injuries is not the only aspect of ending genocide. For the genocide to end, other prohibited acts need to cease, in particular the acts and omissions that are part of the deliberate infliction of the conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the group.
Lifting the unlawful restrictions on freedom of movement, ceasing the practices and policies leading to forcible transfers of civilians and ending all forms of torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza are also essential steps towards ending the genocide.
Unless the well documented root causes are addressed, Palestinians and Israelis cannot even begin to hope for a brighter future built on rights, equality and justice.